Digital Discipleship: Transforming Ministry Through Technology

What is a blog? Laura Turner recently said, A blog (a blend of the term “web log”) is a type of website or part of a website. One person usually maintains Blogs with regular entries. Entries are typically displayed in chronological order. Typically a blog is a combination of personal diary and a commentary guide to other information on the web. A blog is usually a one page website, often with embedded gadgets or widgets.

What I feel is missing in Turner’s description, is that a blog is about entering into a conversation with your audience. It is to involve a two-way conversation between yourself (the blogger) and those who are reading your blog. If you want a one-way conversation, that is a traditional website that simply shares information with others and does not engage the participant in the overall conversation. The conversation allows the blog to be part of the social media environment that surrounds us today.

So what do we need to know about blogging in ministry? Blogging is a form of social media and getting involved with social media is encouraged by our Bishops. Check out:

You’re reading a blog now, that is focused on meeting the need of a specific audience – ministers who are interested in integrating technology into their catechetical or parish ministries. When I explore Catholic blogs, I have discovered two resources – 2009 Catholic Blog Awards and the Catholic Blog Directory.

As you begin to think about writing a blog, I encourage you to choose several blogs from these resources and identify what folks are writing about. Try to determine the intended audience and the mission of the blog. Is it clear? What do you like about the blog? What would you improve? Will your blog be a duplication of what another is doing or will it be unique?

You have probably discovered that there are excellent blogs, mediocre blogs, and awful blogs! Why – Anyone can publish today. We all have different skills! So, if you are going to start a blog – be clear about why and who you are serving! Once you are clear about who and what you are writing about, then I suggest the following steps:

Decide on who your audience will be.

What will you communicate to this audience? Is this blog to inform? teach? engage others in learning more about their faith? Other?

How often will you post a blog page? Once a week? Daily? Monthly? Other?

Briefly outline the first five blog posts, if possible outline what you will write about for the first quarter of the year. Remember in starting a blog, you are making a commitment to starting a conversation with your audience!

Invite a few friends or colleagues to be part of the beginning of this blog. Share your thoughts and ideas with them. Ask them to give you feedback as you continue to develop the blog.

If possible, invite someone to read your posts before they are published online. This way you can “polish” the text to make sure it has good grammar, correct spelling, and great information for your readers.

When you’re ready, then choose your blog tools!

Once you have chosen your tool, you’re ready to post your thoughts and reflections. Remember to complete your profile with your photo and background information. Your readers want to meet you and know something about you.

Now I mention blog tools, as what you are going to create involves more than just adding text to your post. Check out the 10 Free Blogging Tools I Just Can’t Live Without by Susan Gunelius. There are wonderful suggestions here as sometimes you will need photo’s and at other times you will need to edit photo’s.

To learn what others are saying about the blog tool you might choose for your blog, visit Forbes Blog Tools to become more familiar with the following tools: WordPress, Blogger, Blogsome, Movable Type, Textpattern, B2evolution, Live Journal, MSN Spaces, Squarespace, Typepad, and Yahoo 360. I’m using WordPress and you may enjoy using any one of these tools or others that you may discover. Choose what you are comfortable with and find easy to use. We each have personal preferences for why we use the tool we are using!

KidBlog – This site is designed for elementary and middle school teachers who want to provide each student with their own, unique blog. Kidblog’s simple, yet powerful tools allow students to publish posts and participate in discussions within a secure classroom blogging community. Teachers maintain complete control over student blogs.

Blogs on Educational Blogging – Here you can review a variety of blogs to see how others are using a blog in an educational setting with students. As you see what other educators are doing with their students with a blog, use your imagination to see what you may create and implement with your students.

Weblogg-ed – Weblogg-ed, maintained by Will Richardson, blogevangelist and Supervisor of Instructional Technology and Communications at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in Flemington, NJ. This site is dedicated to discussions and reflections on the use of Weblogs, wikis, RSS, audiocasts and other Read/Write Web related technologies in the K-12 realm, technologies that are transforming classrooms around the world.

What I discovered about blogging, is that when you feel ready, jump in with both feet. You will learn by doing! I am also inviting those who are using a blog as a learning tool with their students or RCIA groups to share their stories as a visiting blogger via ACyberPilgrim blog.

When you review the results of the online survey –What Technologies Do I Need to Learn This 2011 year – you will notice that our competencies in this area range from little or no experience to being comfortable. I would encourage those who are comfortable in any of the identified areas to consider being catalysts in their own parish programs. Many of us need to be mentored into using the tools of the 21st Century. Thank you to all who took time to complete the survey!

Next week, you will hear from Carmen Cayon, Director of Faith Formation and Evangelization and Coordinator of Rites of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) at Incarnation Catholic Church in Tampa, Florida. Come back to visit to hear what Carmen will share with us about using a blog in the RCIA program.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s post. Your comments and questions about blogging are most welcome! If you are currently implementing a blog in your ministry, please share your link and a brief story about your blog in the comments.

Please share this blog information with others! When you click on the “Share” button at the bottom of this page, you can forward this page information via email, FaceBook, or a Tweet! If you “like” this post, click on the “Like” button that follows this post. Remember, blogging is an interactive medium! Let’s read and share!

Comments on: "Blogging Knowledge" (4)

A friend inspired me to begin a blog a little over a year ago. Its a personal evangelization tool where I share ministerial ideas, Catholic spiritual references and updates for the people I work with at the Basilica Parish at St. Vincent College. Additionally, I will often make workshop handouts, PowerPoints, etc. available to those that attend my workshops from Diocese to Diocese.

Hi Tom, One of the first questions I would ask is – Who is writing the blog? And what will it communicate to those in the Youngstown Diocese? Check out to see what types of blogs are already on other diocesan websites. Bishop Lynch in the St. Petersburg Diocese writes a blog that is linked to our diocesan website. One of the books that I’ve read that will give you more background for church style websites is the Blogging Church by Brian Bailey. He’s got some wonderful suggestions for ministry blogging.